Water recreational apparatus with sweep jets

ABSTRACT

A water recreational apparatus has a water basin, a pump, a filter and a filter opening. The water basin has side walls and a bottom wall. The water recreational apparatus further includes one or more downwardly directed sweep jets disposed within the water basin proximate to the side walls. The sweep jets are disposed above the bottom wall by a distance of less than 10 inches. The sweep jets are in fluid tight communication with the discharge side of the pump so that water can be pumped through the sweep jets to roil water at the bottom of the water basin. By roiling the water at the bottom of the water basin, debris which tends to collect along the bottom of the water basin is moved upward within the water basin to where it can be removed via the filter opening and the filter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] Water recreational apparatuses, such as portable spas, hot tubs, above ground pools and water recirculating bath tubs have become very popular. Many such water recreational apparatuses have water filters wherein a portion of the water within the basin is withdrawn via a filter opening, filtered to remove suspended debris and reintroduced into the water basin.

[0002] A problem with the use of water recreational apparatuses of the prior art concerns the tendency of debris to collect at the bottom of the apparatus where the water at the bottom of the apparatus is relatively stagnant, compared to water disposed high above the bottom of the basin. Because the water is relatively stagnant, the debris is not easily moved to the filter opening. The debris therefore tends to accumulate at the bottom of the basin.

[0003] Accordingly, there is a need for a water recreational apparatus which avoids this problem in the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The invention satisfies this need. The invention is a water recreational apparatus comprising (a) a water basin having side walls and a bottom wall, (b) a pump having a suction side and a discharge side, and (c) one or more downwardly directed sweep jets disposed within the water basin proximate to the side walls, the sweep jets being disposed above the bottom wall by a distance of less than 10 inches, the one or more downwardly directed sweep jets being in fluid tight communication with the discharge side of the pump.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings where:

[0006]FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view of a water apparatus having features of the invention;

[0007]FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic isometric view of a water recreational apparatus having features of the invention;

[0008]FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of the water recreational apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2;

[0009]FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of another water recreational apparatus having features of the invention;

[0010]FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view of still another water recreational apparatus having features of the invention; and

[0011]FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of still another water recreational apparatus having features of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The following discussion describes in detail one embodiment of the invention and several variations of that embodiment. This discussion should not be construed, however, as limiting the invention to those particular embodiments. Practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments as well.

[0013] The invention comprises a water recreational apparatus 10, such as a portable spa, hot tub, above ground pool or water recirculating bath tub. The water recreational apparatus 10 comprises a water basin 12, a filter 14, a pump and one or more downwardly directed sweep jets 18.

[0014] The water basin 12 typically has a plurality of generally vertical side walls 20 and a generally horizontal bottom wall 22. The water basin 12 also typically comprises one or more user seat locations 24 and a plurality of recreational jets (not shown) disposed in the upper portions 26 of the side walls 20. The water recreational jets provide an inlet stream of pressurized and aerated water to massage, amuse and otherwise impact the upper torsos of users disposed at the user seat locations 24. The recreational jets are disposed so as to project pressurized and aerated water in a generally horizontal direction within the water basin 12. The recreational jets are disposed more than 10 inches above the bottom wall 22 of the water basin 12.

[0015] The water basin 12 further comprises at least one filter opening 28 for allowing a slip stream of water 29 to flow from the water basin 12 and into the filter 14, the filter 14 typically being disposed external of the water basin 12. In the embodiments illustrated in the drawings, the filter opening 28 is disposed in the upper portions 26 of the side walls 20. Additional filter openings (not shown) can also be provided disposed, for example, in the bottom wall 22 of the water basin 12.

[0016] The pump 16 is typically a centrifugal pump driven by an electric motor 30. The pump has a suction side 32 and a discharge side 34. The discharge side 34 of the pump 16 is disposed in fluid tight communication with the filter 14 via a suction line 36. The discharge side 34 of the pump 16 is connected via discharge lines 38 to the recreational jets in the upper portions 26 of the side walls 20 and to the sweep jets 18 disposed in the lower portions 40 of the side walls 20.

[0017] In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the one or more sweep jets 18 comprise a plurality of sweep jets 18. In FIG. 1, two sweep jets 18 are illustrated. In FIGS. 2 and 3, three sweep jets 18 are illustrated. The sweep jets 18 are downwardly directed openings for allowing the pumping of water from the pump 16 to the bottom of the water basin 12. The sweep jets 18 can be disposed so that water discharged from the sweep jets 18 is projected substantially vertically. The sweep jets 18 can alternatively be disposed at an angle with respect to the vertical. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, each of the three sweep jets is 18 disposed at an angle with respect to the vertical, such that each of the sweep jets 18 projects downwardly to the right. By this configuration, the discharge of water from the combined three sweep jets 18 tends to the swirl water at the bottom of the water basin 12 in a counter clockwise direction.

[0018] The sweep jets 18 are disposed above the bottom wall 22 of the water basin 12 by less than about 10 inches. In a typical embodiment, the sweep jets 18 are disposed between about 3 inches and about 6 inches above the bottom wall 22 of the water basin 18. In a spa having a water basin capacity of about 100 gallons, 4 to 8 equally spaced apart sweep jets 18 can be used. For such a spa, the total water discharged from each sweep jet 18 is typically between about 10 gpm and about 400 gpm. Thus, the totality of the water discharged from all of the sweep jets 18 is typically between about 10 gpm and about 60 gpm.

[0019] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the water basin 12, the filter 14, the pump 16, the suction lines 36 and the discharge lines 38 are housed within a spa surround 41.

[0020]FIG. 4 illustrates another typical embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the suction lines 36 comprise a side wall discharge port 43 and the discharge lines 38 further comprise a heater 42, a main manifold 44 and a sweep jet manifold 46. The heater 42 can be used to heat water circulated through the discharge lines 38. The main manifold 44 divides water in the discharge lines 38 into two streams. In a first stream, the water is routed to the recreational jets in the upper portions 26 of the side walls 20 via recreational jet main lines 48. The second stream is routed to the sweep jet manifold 44. The sweep jet manifold 44 separates water into individual streams for each of the sweep jets 18. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, there are four sweep jets 18, one disposed in each of the four side walls 20.

[0021]FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment of the invention, a portion of the water from the discharge lines 38 flows to an ozone injector 50 disposed along the bottom wall 22 of the water basin 12. Also, a drain valve 52 is provided in the discharge lines 38.

[0022]FIG. 6 illustrates yet another embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment of the invention, a pair of pumps 16, driven by a single motor 30, is used. One of the pumps 16 provides water to the sweep jets 18 while the other pump 16 provides water to the heater 42, the recreational jets and to the ozone injector 50.

[0023] In operation, debris, such as dirt and other solid materials, typically accumulate along the bottom wall 22 of the water basin 12. As explained in the Background Section, this debris along the bottom wall 22 is difficult to move to the filter opening 28, especially when the filter opening 28 is disposed in the upper portion 26 of the side walls 20. By use of the sweep jets 18, water discharged from the pump 16 through the sweep jets 18 roils the water at the bottom of the water basin 12 sufficiently to move debris along the bottom wall 22 of the water basin away from the bottom wall 22. In a preferred embodiment, such roiling of the water in the bottom of the water basin 12 is sufficient to displace debris at the bottom of the water basin 12 all the way to the upper water levels in the water basin 12, where the debris can be withdrawn in the slip stream 29 flowing through a filter opening 28 disposed in the upper portion 26 of the side walls 20. The slip stream 29 passes to and through the filter 14 where debris, once disposed along the bottom wall 22 of the water basin 12, is filtered out.

[0024] Thus, the invention provides a simple and inexpensive way of preventing the build-up of unwanted debris at the bottom of the water basin of a water recreational apparatus.

[0025] Having thus described the invention, it should be apparent that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the scope and fair meaning of the instant invention as set forth hereinabove and as described hereinbelow by the claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A water recreational apparatus comprising: (a) a water basin having side walls and a bottom wall; (b) a pump having a suction side and a discharge side; (c) a filter; and (d) one or more downwardly directed sweep jets disposed within the water basin proximate to the side walls, the sweep jets being disposed above the bottom wall by a distance of less than 10 inches, the one or more downwardly directed sweep jets being in fluid tight communication with the discharge side of the pump.
 2. The water recreational apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one or more sweep jets are a plurality of sweep jets.
 3. The water recreational apparatus of claim 1 wherein the sweep jets are disposed between about 3 inches and about 6 inches above the bottom wall of the basin.
 4. A water recreational apparatus comprising: (a) a water basin having side walls and a bottom wall; (b) a pump having a suction side and a discharge side; (c) a filter; and (d) one or more downwardly directed sweep jets disposed within the water basin proximate to the side walls, the sweep jets being disposed above the bottom wall by a distance of between about 3 inches and about 6 inches, the plurality of sweep jets being in fluid tight communication with the discharge side of the pump.
 5. A method of removing debris from the bottom of a water recreational apparatus wherein the water recreational apparatus comprises a water filled basin, a filter and a pump, the water basin comprising a bottom wall and side walls having an upper portion and a lower portion, the side walls or the bottom wall having a filter opening for taking a slip stream of water from the water basin to the filter, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing the water recreational apparatus with one or more downwardly directed sweep jets disposed proximate to the side walls, the sweep jets being disposed above the bottom wall of the basin by a distance of less than about 10 inches, the one or more downwardly directed sweep jets being in fluid tight communication with the discharge side of the pump; (b) pumping water through the one or more downwardly directed sweep jets using the pump so as to roil water disposed proximate to the bottom wall of the basin; (c) drawing off a slip stream of water containing the debris from the basin via the filter opening; and (d) filtering the debris from the slip stream.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more sweep jets are a plurality of sweep jets.
 7. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more sweep jets are disposed above the bottom of the wall by a distance of between about 3 inches and about 6 inches.
 8. The method of claim 5 wherein the total amount of water discharged through the one or more sweep jets is between about 10 gpm and about 60 gpm.
 9. The method of claim 5 wherein the amount of water discharged through each of the one or more sweep jets is between about 10 gpm and about 60 gpm.
 10. The method of claim 5 wherein the filter opening is disposed in the upper portion of the side walls. 